Thailand is trying to bar hospitals and clinics from cosmetically castrating would be "lady-boys" because the operation is being seen as a quick and cheap alternative to a full sex change.
Thailand's Public Health Ministry
sent out a letter to 16,000 private health facilities, telling the doctors that performed castration, outside the regular formal sex change therapy, which requires intensive physical and mental evaluations, that they would face up to six months in jail.
They admit enforcing this ban will be as hard to accomplish as it is to enforce the rules on cosmetic removal of testicles since it is so quick and easy to perform. (15 to 20 minute surgery)
However, at the lower end of the market, clinics have responded to demand from teenage boys to look more like girls by posting Internet advertisements offering castration for as little as 4,000 baht ($125).
According to the article, Thailand is home to a large umber of "lady-boys" and the country is becoming a world leader in sex change surgeries.
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